Picking up the PIeces
by Lost-In-Space-2.0
Summary: The flock never got together, follow Max and her new friends as they try to gather all of the mutants necessary to save the world. Will the flock get together? or will it remain broken? This story used to be called Separate lives, but I made a new account and changed the name and I'm going to be improving the story. There will be FAX, EGGY, and maybe a few other pairings.
1. Chapter 1

Hey, so some of you may remember this story as Separate Lives from the author NewHampshireMan155, well that was my old account, I decided to create a new account and come back to writing with a clean slate, and work on improving my writing and making sure the stories I've written on the old account are up to my standards. Now I want to add some back story for chapter one and why there are some things mentioned here that are never brought back in the rest of the story, well this was originally an essay I had to write for English class that I was able to adapt to fan fiction. Anyway, thanks for reading! I hope you enjoy! Just remember to review and let me know what you all think!

DISCLAIMER: James Patterson owns Maximum Ride!

Every morning I wake up at 6:00 AM exactly, not a moment earlier or a second after. I slowly pad my way into the bathroom and gently remove my dark blue fuzzy bathrobe off of the hook it has on the back of the bathroom door. I quietly pull my bathrobe on over my green and white striped pajamas with the 6-inch hole on the right knee. My parents keep saying they will get me new ones but always seem to "forget." I continue quietly in my white and grey and red and black striped socks down the hall and make my way carefully past the Christmas tree partially blocking the doorway and curl up with Rosa in front of the lit gas stove in the living room.

Rosa looks up sleepily into my eyes and immediately starts licking my face and curling up closer to me, her warm furry body pressing tightly against my cool hairless one. After about half an hour I turn off the stove and get up careful not to wake Rosa up but she does anyway and follows me as I sneak quietly into the office, which also is my bedroom. I turn on the computer and wait for the light on the monitor to come on and then wait for a minute or two after that. I log into my account on the computer and immediately click on the icon indicating Internet Explorer at the bottom of the screen. When Google finally decides to show up on the screen I go to the tab indicating Facebook and check for any messages or anything from any of my friends, there are none.

The next action I take is going into my favorites and selecting the shortcut for " " and check to see how many people have read the _Maximum Ride_ fan fiction I had written. I thought that a few might have, considering that I had just added a new chapter to the story yesterday. I looked at the "traffic" tab and my eyes grew wide with shock as I read the number of people that had read the story that I had written about my favorite characters in my favorite series of books. It seems that "Unlikely Friendship" was not such a bad title for my story and that my story was not a bad idea for one. The number of hits I had was 68 and the viewers was 25; the record for my story. When I learned this I felt a warm nice feeling spread throughout my body, and I would use that wonderful feeling to get me through the school week.

I clicked back to my Facebook page one last time before quitting Internet explorer, and found that some person from China had added me as a friend. Now, I may know a lot of people around the world, okay maybe just in the US but I still know a good number of people in this country and our big neighbor to the north. I know that I definitely know absolutely no one in China, so I quickly hit the "ignore" button and quit. I walked silently back into the living room and sat down tiredly unto the couch and clicked on the TV to channel 9 news so I could see everything wrong with the world.

As I finished watching the news I retreated into my thoughts so I could clear my mind and meditate for about half an hour then, without any warning, there was a loud knock on the door, pulling me back to the present. I ruffled my feathers in annoyance and got up quietly so as to not wake the sleeping members of my family, and quickly moved to answer the door. Standing outside on the icy front step was my best friend and partner in crime, Kayla Snipe. She was the only person who truly understood what I was thinking; the only person who understood what it was like being me. Kayla was rather short, at only 5'0", with shoulder-length brown hair highlighted with strawberry blond lines. I hoped that all of the commotion with the knocking on the door and the barking of the dog had not woken everyone in the house, unfortunately though, it had.

"What's happening out here?" I heard a tired voice ask from behind me.

"Nothing Mom I was just talking to Kayla after she came over."

"Well do it quietly, we don't need everyone waking up because of you two" she replied.

"I'm sorry, I just wanted to come and ask your son if he wanted to do anything with me today, like right now" Kayla explained.

"Do you even need to ask? Of course he can go, and I am sure he would love to do something with you," my mom said, rather embarrassing me in the process.

"Well come on then!" Kayla said, trying to pull me out of the door with her.

"Wait a minute Kayla; I still need to get dressed! I will only be a second," I said, running back to my room and pulling on my red and brown striped shirt with my green pants and black and orange Keene High School band jacket with my name on the right arm. I made sure that my feathers were not crumpled or folded at an uncomfortable angle then rushed outside and joined Kayla on the street outside my house. "So where do you want to go?"

"I was thinking that we should go and find the biggest candy store in New England and just pig out," Kayla answered.

"Sounds great," I said enthusiastically so with that we spread our wings and took off for the great city of Boston, Massachusetts, the home of Sweet Treasures, the biggest candy store in the US and Canada. We spent about 5 hours pigging out at the candy store and then moved on to go out to eat at the Restaurant De Tao-The best Spanish-Chinese-American restaurant this side of Chicago. We sat down in our booth and talked about life. We didn't do this a lot because there was never any need; we each understood each other so well that we could always say whatever we needed to just using our eyes, which kinda freaked our friends out but for us it was just normal.

"Hey guys, what can I do for you?" the waitress asked us, this waitress was actually quite attractive, she had long dirty brown hair and eyes the color of the chocolate that I had just eaten at Sweet Treasures. She looked to be about my age, 16, and she was about 5'9" the same height as me. When Kayla saw the way I was looking at the beautiful waitress she slapped me upside the head and the waitress looked at us with a weird look on her face.

"Okay then…so anyway, my name is Max and I will be your server today." Max introduced herself.

"Nice to meet you," Kayla said while still glaring fixedly at me and I grinned back at her and she kicked me under the table causing me to gasp in pain and Max gave us another strange look.

"Okay, I will have three cheeseburgers, two chocolate milks and two egg rolls," I ordered.

"And I will have two chicken and broccolis and two chocolate milks, please" Kayla said.

"Okay, sounds great! I'll be back with your order in a little while." Max said and then smiled at us and walked back into the kitchen. After exactly 7 minutes and 36 seconds had passed Max came back with our order and we dug in, without worrying about our manners or anything like that. It just didn't matter to us; I figured that once you're a little bit weird there is no going back; especially not when you're as different as Kayla and I are, what with the wings and everything.

"Excuse me I was just wondering if there was anything you needed." At that we both looked up at the speaker and saw a rather large man with skin the color of Max's eyes and short black curly hair growing close to his head. He was probably the biggest person in terms of height and muscle that I had ever seen, and I could tell immediately that all of the girls liked him, his voice was one that could calm the sea and bring an end to the suffering and wars in the world.

"Nope everything is great. My name is Kayla" Kayla said, introducing herself.

"Cool, I'm Matthew by the way. I'm the chef here," He said.

"Oh, that is so cool!" Kayla said.

"Yeah, I'm trying to save up my money so I can go to college and earn my degree in music education." Matthew replied.

"Really? Me too!" Kayla said.

"Okay, I hate to break up this love fest but why don't you just exchange numbers and talk on the phone later, because right now we need to go," I said, slightly irritated. We left the restaurant, me practically dragging Kayla out the door. We were about to get on a bus to go to Lexington when I heard a shout from behind me. I turned and looked behind me and saw the waitress, Max, running to catch up with us.

"Hi, I'm glad I caught you. You left your iPod on the table," she said, handing Kayla's iPod Touch to her "and I also wanted to talk to you about something"

"Thank you sooooo much! My mom would've killed me if I lost this!" Kayla practically squealed in delight.

"What did you want to talk to us about?" I asked suspiciously

"Well I noticed from your jacket that you live in Keene, New Hampshire, right?" she asked

"Yeah, why?" I responded slowly

"Well my dad lives in Keene, and you guys seem really nice, so I was wondering if you ever wanted to hang out when I come up there?" she said.

"Yeah…okay," I said. "That sounds fun."

"Alright, cool, I just want at least one friend up there so I won't be completely bored out of my skull."

"Okay, so here's my number so call if you're ever in town, and we could probably hang out or something, if you want to." I wrote down my number and handed the paper to Max and she did the same for her number.

"Thanks a lot!" Max replied.

Kayla and I then got onto the bus and took a seat in the back and talked about the most recent developments while we waited for the bus to arrive in Lexington.

"So…..you gonna call Matthew tonight or tomorrow?" I asked teasingly.

"Tomorrow, I'm not that desperate," she said, punching my arm, hard.

"Ow! Geez. It was just a question, calm down," I complained but for whatever reason I was smiling anyway. "And anyway I was kinda joking."

"I know but let's just talk about something else, okay?" she asked, blushing.

"Fine. What do you want to talk about?" I asked

"How about why we are taking a bus to Lexington when we could just be flying there" she said.

"Okay, so you want Matthew and the rest of Boston to know that we are freaks" I replied.

"Oh, good point. I hadn't really thought of that." She replied, slightly embarrassed

"Exactly! That is why I had to make sure we had enough time for the bus trip and had to leave the restaurant early."

"Oh, good idea." Kayla replied, rather reluctantly.

"Then the plan is we will fly from Lexington to Keene, drop you off at you house and I will continue on to mine. Sound good?"

"Yup, sounds cool" she replied, sounding really tired.

"Or, if you want to we can spend the night in Lexington," I offered.

"That sounds really good," she admitted, again, rather reluctantly.

"Well okay then, I guess we will stay the night here and leave first thing in the morning for Keene. Does that sound good?" I asked.

"Yes, thank you it sounds awesome" she replied rather sleepily.

"Well, then, that's what we'll do."

"Thanks again."

"No problem," I answered.

At that moment the bus pulled up in the Lexington bus station and Kayla and I stumbled sleepily from the bus and managed to find a nice hotel right in front of us. We walked in and ordered a room. The clerk at the desk gave us a funny look but stopped once I gave her my dad's credit card with a smile. She handed us our room keys and we took them up to our room. When we opened the door we realized why the clerk had looked at us weirdly; there was only one bed.

"Here, I guess I can sleep on the floor or the couch, you take the bed," I offered.

"No, you don't have to do that. I will take the couch," she argued.

"No, it was my mistake that got us into this position, I'll take the couch," I insisted.

"Fine, but only because I'm too tired to argue with you anymore." She finally gave in. We then brushed our teeth with the toothbrushes that the hotel had given us and lay down in our respective beds, me on the couch and Kayla on the double bed.

"Goodnight Kayla." I called.

"'Night," she replied sleepily.

We woke up in what we assumed must be the morning because light was streaming through the windows. We went downstairs and ate our fill at the free continental breakfast provided by the hotel. After we had eaten enough to fill a biker gang-no wait, make that three biker gangs, we walked out the door into the broad daylight. We searched for a dark ally and we finally found one, right next to the hotel we had stayed at. We quietly snuck in and making sure nobody was watching us we stretched out our wings and immediately took to the sky. We flew north silently quickly heading towards Keene New Hampshire, AKA home, when we saw it: a double rainbow was crossing the sky right in front of us.

"That's good luck you know," I said to Kayla who was flying right beside me, as always.

"Good, I'll need all the luck I can get, what with having to put up with you all of the time" she said in reply.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" I asked, pouting slightly.

"Don't worry, I was just kidding," she reassured me.

"Oh okay, good." I answered.

We then were approaching Keene and we started to see the famous landmarks of the city that had hosted _Jumanji._We started to lower ourselves in the sky as her house was approaching quickly right below us. We landed gently on her front yard.

"Okay, so I'll see you tomorrow?" I asked, though I already knew the answer.

"Definitely" she answered as always.

"Cool."

And with that I spread my 15 foot-long-black wings with brown spots and a white base and flew up into the sky. I quickly turned and soared in the direction of my house in downtown Keene.

By the time I reached my front door, I could already tell that something was wrong. All of the cars I had seen on the street were empty and I saw nobody walking downtown. I walked in and after calling their names several times I realized to my horror that nobody was going to answer me they were all doing something together, which might be normal for some families, but not for my family. We never did anything outside of the house all together unless I was the one behind it. But, they might have changed, unlikely but always possible.

After I looked around the house several times to make sure that I had not missed them, I left and started walking around the town. The whole city was the same-everyone was missing, all of the shops were empty, all of the houses were dark. Even the Keene Sentinel was devoid of all people. That's when it hit me. What had happened to my home town, the mysterious act that led to many people thinking about UFO's, was so horrible that it could not be described.

Everyone in the entire city of Keene and Cheshire County had vanished into thin air, leaving the area in a state of complete, total, absolute, silence.

Hope you liked it! Please review after you read this chapter! Thank you!

P.S: the narrator of the story is a character I created he is not one of James Patterson's characters


	2. Chapter 2

Here is the second chapter, I hope you guys are enjoying the story so far, I am hoping to get at least one chapter out per day until I run out of pre-written chapters, then I'll probably aim for one chapter per week!

Disclaimer: JP OWNS MR

I looked at the abandoned streets and black lights of my home. This city had been the best one that I had known, and now everyone had vanished. Keene had always felt like a home to me, I came here four years ago when my parents decided that Canada was no longer a good place for us to stay; and as soon as I set foot in Keene I felt like I was finally home. My wings were starting to hurt from exhaustion so I landed silently on the porch of a house that looked far too nice and peaceful to be so close to the library, where all of the smokers went after school to, well, smoke. I walked down the path and looked at the black and red mailbox with one word, "Betchelder" on it. I walked across the street to the library and then I heard it: Kayla's voice shouting my name. I looked around, yet I saw no one, I heard it again, I looked up, still nobody at all. Finally I got up the courage and entered the library and yet still I heard Kayla's voice calling my name, suddenly and inexplicably there was a pain in my right arm and then some on my face, it felt like someone was hitting but no one was there. Then everything went black.

I opened my eyes sleepily and looked around, I was in a hotel room and Kayla was standing over me getting ready to hit me again.

"Where, where am I?" I asked groggily.

"Um…the same place you were when you went to bed last night, the couch" she replied, looking at me with a slightly concerned expression on her face.

"Okay, but _where_?"

"Lexington, Massachusetts, we spent the night here remember?" she said looking at me as if I was slightly stupid.

"Right then we should probably be getting going." I said, trying to get up from the couch.

"Oh no you don't" Kayla said pushing me back onto the sofa

"What?"

"Let's see, I just had to hit you to get you up, I am thinking that something might be wrong" she stated simply

"Nothing's wrong I was just really deeply asleep, that's all" I answered

"Okay, but I am going to be keeping my eyes on you" she finally allowed me to stand up and stretch, I reached down and my hand entered my right pocket, I felt around, then finally found what I was looking for; the proof that meeting Max and going to Sweet treasures was not just a dream. My hand folded around the piece of paper and took it out and looked at it. Sure enough, there was a telephone, or most likely a cell phone, number written on it. "Max" was scrawled hastily in the upper right hand corner, which proved once and for all that yesterday had really happened and had not been something my subconscious had invented in order to torture me; which it loves to do.

"Okay are you ready to go?" Kayla called from the door

"Almost, just give me sec!" I quickly put the piece of paper with max's number on it back into my pocket, grabbed my jacket and followed Kayla out the door.

"So, off to Keene right?" Kayla asked me

"Yup, I think your parents probably want you home." I responded

"Okay so, let's get going!" and with that we spread our wings wide and jumped off the balcony soaring into the crisp, cold, December air. We flew for a while in silence, almost peacefully, key word being "almost." It had been over a year or two since we had last been attacked but we still were always on guard, even at night. We usually were very light sleepers so Kayla having to actually hit me to get me up was very weird. I thought about all of this as we passed over Massachusetts and into New Hampshire. We saw it again the unbelievable double rainbow was crossing the sky; the exact same one, in the exact same place, as the one from my dream this morning.

"Hey Kayla!" I called over to her

"What?"

"Do you see that?" I asked her

"Yeah, it's beautiful" she said almost mesmerized

"That's good luck"

"I know" she answered back, smiling at me

"So, what are you getting your dad for Christmas?" I asked changing the subject

"I'm not sure, maybe a documentary on birds or something like that" she answered, her dad was like a professor of birds, he just loved them so much. Now that I think about I think that he actually does study birds at this lab that he works at. Yeah I know what you're thinking; and no, he did not cause Kayla and me to have wings. He is just a really nice and smart guy who loves birds. I tilted my wings until I was flying right next to Kayla.

"So, looking forward to getting home so you can call Matt?" I asked, kinda teasingly

"You know me too well"

"Yeah, it's starting to get kind of freaky" I responded and we started to descend as we saw Kayla's house approaching quickly below us. We folded our wings at the last second and silently fell onto the soft green grass of her front yard. Kayla's mother, Sarah, came outside to welcome us soon as we picked ourselves off of the grass.

"Where were you last night, young lady?" she asked, practically yelling, Kayla.

"Just eating candy in Boston with my _Best Friend!_" she yelled back "you told me I could!"

"Yeah, I said you could go to Boston for the day, not overnight!"

"I was tired so we spent the night in a hotel room in Lexington, and don't worry nothing happened, we're _just friends"_yeah, Kayla's mom is very overprotective of her; so, as a result she doesn't like me because she believes that all guys are just trying to get into someone's pants.

"Well I don't want to get in the way of all the mother-daughter love, so I'll just be going now" I said, and with that I stretched my wings and with a few powerful down strokes rose quickly into the air. I quickly headed north towards downtown Keene and my house. I landed somewhat gracefully in my driveway and, amazingly, I managed to avoid breaking my neck slipping on the ice. I heard the soft crooning of the chickens and I went out back to see them; I always felt really close to any kind of bird, probably because of the wings, I felt a sort of kinship with them. The chickens looked at me with their intelligent brown eyes, tilting their heads as if they every word I said to them and wanted to make me feel better; then I remembered, they probably did. I walked reluctantly into the house, dropping my gloves off in the breeze way, and sat down at my computer to go on Facebook and check my email. Again there were no messages from any of my friends I heard the front door open and close and heard footsteps coming down the hall towards the office.

"What are you doing in here?" my sister asked from behind me

"No-othing" I teased, my sister, Cecelia, was adopted from Russia when I was 8, she is now 20 and attending the local college. But, still sometimes acts as if she was only nine or ten.

"Well I need the computer for my homework so off, now!" she demanded

"Ummm, how about no, you have your own laptop and I know that your classes ended last week." I replied

"Uuughghgghhghgh, you can be so annoying sometimes!" she yelled in frustration and stomped out of the room.

I quickly logged off of the computer, yeah I totally could have given it to her, I just love irritating the crap out of her, but we actually get along really well, I just joke around and annoy her, but we still are there for each other. As I was entering the living room my cell phone started to ring and I quickly grabbed it and flipped it open.

"Hello?" I answered the phone (duh!)

"Hey, is it you?" the caller asked

"Yeah, it's me, why wouldn't it be?"

"I don't know, you could have gotten your phone taken from you or something" she replied, rather sheepishly

"I'm fine, Ella, now what do you want?" I asked her, my best friend after Kayla.

"I just wanted to say hi, and see if you wanted to do something later, but fine if I am such an annoyance then I guess I just leave!" she said, pretending to cry

"Yeah, I guess I could, what did you want to do?"

"Well…I was kinda hungry so I was wondering if you wanted to go to subway or something with me?" she asked sounding embarrassed.

"Oh…man I am so sorry but I just had lunch with Kayla on our way home from Boston, so maybe some other time okay?" I replied

"Oh…okay…some other time then." She said sounding dejected.

"I want to I just feel like if I eat anything more I think I will pretty much explode and I don't think you would like that, would you?" I said/asked.

"No I guess not, well, I'll see you later." She said then hung up.

I put my phone back in my pocket when I heard the distinctive sound of my mom in the kitchen. I walked in and tried to steal some of the cookie dough from the big bowl that she was making.

"No! those are for later!" she yelled at me, smacking my hand.

"fine" I said bored I walked out of the kitchen and lay down on the couch and turned the TV on to the discovery channel and watched "Myth busters" for about an hour then clicked it off, put my head down and slept.

Sorry it was kind of a filler chapter; I just wanted to get it done. R&R PLEASE! So I hope the story is making sense so far, I do have a direction that I plan on taking this and there will be more drama and action later, so bear with me. I promise Max will be getting more of a role later. If you have any comments don't be afraid to write your review down below! Thanks!


	3. Chapter 3

All right here is chapter 3 so I hope you enjoy! And remember, REVIEW!

_Christmas Eve_

"COME ONN! WAKE UP! WAKE UP! BIG BROTHER, IT ALMOST CHRISTMAS!" I opened my eyes and looked into the blue eyes that belonged to my younger sister, Angel. Angel was only 6 and was very attached to me. She had long blond hair that ended somewhere near her mid back or so.

"What's up Ange?" I asked sleepily

"It's almost Christmas!" she said giggling

"Oh yeah, did you write your letter to Santa?" I asked even though I had already asked her almost daily, she just loved telling me about it.

"Yup, I asked for a puppy!" She said as always

"But we already have Rosa; do you really want another dog in the house?" I asked

"Well Rosa is really your dog, I want my own!" she said excitedly.

"Well okay then, can you get off my bed so I can get up please?" I asked too tired to argue with her she hopped gently off of my bed and we headed into the living room. I sat on the couch and Angel jumped up and sat on my lap. I grabbed the remote and immediately turned on "Phineas and Ferb," Angel's favorite show. Angel is not really my sister, she was also adopted at the same time as me and from the same place, but we grew up together so she sees me as her big brother, I'm the one who would always look out for her. Before our current parents adopted us we lived in an orphanage in Halifax Nova Scotia, the capital of Nova Scotia in Canada. She had not originally been from Canada, right after I had arrived at the orphanage some guy dressed up as a pharmacist or something dropped off Angel wrapped in a blanket. We had very nearly given up all hope of being adopted, because who wants to adopt a young child and a teenager together? That's right, nobody. Plus what with us being freaks, considering we both had wings that made us even more undesirable. We watched TV for about an hour then I gently nudged Angel off of my lap. She quickly hopped down and ran off to her room to do who knows what, probably some 6-year-old stuff or wrap gifts or something like that. I quietly walked into the office, and opened up Facebook and saw that Kayla was online so I opened up a chat box.

'Hey wat's up?' I typed

'Not much, u?'

'Just watching TV w/Ange' I replied

'Aww that must have been so cute ;)'

'Yup, hey, wanna do something later?"

'Can't, grounded sorry ' she said

'Why?'

'Staying in Lexington w/u'

'Sorry '

'Its fine, but I need to go, someone's calling my phone'

'Okay, bye' I said then quit out of Facebook, I looked outside and sighed at the pitiful one inch of snow that had fallen last night. Usually by this time the sky has already taken pity on us and given us enough snow for at least one and sometimes two snow days. I walked out the front door, planning on meeting my friends downtown; I walked to High Street Market, once there I waved hello to Ella and she walked briskly over to me.

"Hi" I said in greeting

"Hey" she replied a certain sparkle in her eyes

"What are you so happy about?" I asked

"I'm just looking forward to tomorrow and the big Christmas party I'm having" she said with a grin

"You're having a Party tomorrow?" I asked, surprised.

"Yeah, and you're coming, remember?" she replied

"Oh yeah, I'll be looking forward to it" just then her dad called for her and she had to go with him.

"Well, talk to you later!" she said as she ran out the door

"Yeah bye"

I continued on my quest to find my friends and ran down Court St. and ended up in Central Square. I looked around but none of my friends were anywhere that I could see, I walked to a dark alley and spread my wings and flew off in the direction of the library, knowing that Ethan would be there. Ethan was a very smart student he would almost always ace every quiz, he was not very good in social situations, however, being the school book-worm he would always have a book practically glued to his face, even while walking down the halls in school. He sat next to Kayla who sat behind me in History, Kayla being behind me led to my current bad grade in that class due to the constant conversations that were held in whispers between us "the two musketeers" Ethan never participated in them, of course, as he was too busy trying to bring his grade up from a 99 to a 100. Despite all of this Ethan and I were what people would call friends, even though I don't always like to admit it. I pushed open the door to the library and walked briskly towards the manga section, Ethan's favorite genre. I saw the small figure of a young 16 or old 15 year-old kneeling on the floor of the library reading a very Japanese-looking manga book, that would be him.

"Hey" I said

"Hi, how are you?" he asked

"Fine, you?"

"Not bad, where were you the other week when you just vanished?" he asked

"I was in Boston, with Kayla" I replied

"Oh cool, how is she by the way?"

"Fine, why?"

"Oh, just wondering"

"Oh? Well okay then, I will leave you to your books as I need to go get ready for my party tomorrow" I said and walked out of the library and found another dark alley. In the alley I found I unfurled my wings and in several powerful down strokes I had risen several meters into the sky, I headed to my house and when I arrived, I landed on the ice and almost fell onto my face. I got up from my hands and knees where I had had fallen and walked into the house as if nothing had happened. I walked inside and ran right into Cecelia who had just been leaving for her job.

"Watch where you going!" she yelled at me

"Sorry"

"And anyway, you're girlfriend called" she said

"Who?"

"Your girlfriend, Kayla" she said smirking

"How many times must I say this? Kayla is NOT my girlfriend, we're just friends" I replied

"And how many times have I told you that you should be?"

"A lot, but we are never going to be so stop" I said slightly chuckling "I don't need you controlling my love life, Ella does that just fine" she gave me a dark look and stormed out of the door to her car and drove off, yes she was driving, only Angel and are mutants with wings Cecelia is the lucky one; completely normal. I then walked into the office (yes, I do spend most of my life glued to the computer) and decided to play one of the many computer games I have. After what felt like only a few minutes I looked at the clock and saw that it was 9:00 PM I quickly logged off of the computer took my bath and meditated for about half an hour. I just hoped that every day was as peaceful and relaxing and normal as this one.

But I did not know how wrong I was.

Sorry for the rather boring chapter but this is the last of the introductory chapters the next chapter will introduce the conflict and be much more interesting so review or I will write more boring chapters! So review! NOW! I'll have the next chapter up either later today or tomorrow, depending on whether or not I get my Homework done in time.


	4. Chapter 4

Hey Guys I'm sure you guys are wondering about where Max is well here you go there is some Maxness in this chapter so enjoy! And Ttank you to all of you that made it this far! This is also the first chapter with the major plot stuff in it in other words it is not just fluff and it should be more interesting than the previous two! So R&R!

_Christmas Day_

I woke up on Christmas morning to the sound of Angel's squeals of delight upon seeing all of the presents that "Santa" had left for us under the tree. I rubbed my eyes with my free hand and slowly lifted myself from the warmth and comfort of my bed. I walked silently down the hall, grabbing my warm blue fuzzy bathrobe from the bathroom as I did so. I entered the living room to see Angel sitting on the sofa, the contents of her stocking spread out around her. I snuck up behind her and quickly grabbed her shoulders; she had not heard my approach and jumped about 3 feet into the air.

"EEEECK" she screamed and turned around getting ready to fight.

"Relax, it's only me" I said, chuckling "so what'd you get this year?"

"I'm not sure, I'm waiting for mom and dad to get up" she said smiling

"Well that's unusual; usually you're already in there waking them up by now"

"Yeah, well I figured that since I am 6 now I can settle for waiting a few minutes" she said while smiling

"Well good for you" I said, impressed. Just as I said that I heard the sound of my dad softly walking down the hall towards the living room. The man that had adopted us had medium length thinning grey hair and was a retired writer and editor. His blue eyes appeared to have this all-knowing look in them, and when you came under his gaze it felt like he was looking right through you. He used this unique "gift" to catch Angel, Cecelia and I whenever we were lying about something. I walked over to the tree and curled up under it with Rosa, among the presents waiting for everybody to get up so we could open them.

"What are you doing under there?" was the only thing I heard when my dad entered the room and saw me on the floor underneath the tree.

"Sleeping, now go away!" I said in my oh so charming way that I had when I was half asleep.

"You can't sleep there forever so get up" my dad instructed me

"No, I want to sleep now, get up later" I said groggily

"Well we need to open presents, so get up"

"Why?" I asked

"Because I want to open my presents" Angel said from somewhere on the other side of the room

"Well, if you ask me nicely I may listen" I said

"Please get up?" Angel asked

"Fine, I guess I could get up, if you really want me to" I said slowly dragging myself from under the tree and lying down on the couch instead. Rosa growled at me and leaving the living room to go sleep with my mom. I closed my eyes and within seconds I was out.

I got up off the couch went out the back door and spread my wings and flew to the look out that showed a beautiful view of Keene, I always loved coming here I always felt so alive and in control, I guess this is what a god must feel like on a daily basis. I heard rustling in the bushes behind me, I turned and saw Kayla walking out of them towards me.

"Hey" she said coming to stand next to me. "What's up?"

"Not much just thought I would come and take in the glory that is our world" I said

"Yeah, it's pretty amazing, I just came here because here I feel safe, you know? Nobody chasing us or anything" she said looking into my eyes

"Yeah, I feel really good about it, it's just you and me, with no worries at all in the world" I chuckled

"I know, it's so peaceful." She said unconsciously drifting closer to me

"At least we're not locked up in dog crates or anything" I said as we were getting closer together

"Yeah" she said and with that her lips crashed into mine in a passionate but short kiss, but before I could register what had just happened, I heard something from behind me that caused my blood to run cold.

"Hello, little birdy" said a growl from behind me, I whipped around and saw about 20 erasers with guns standing right behind us on the cliff's edge.

"What do you want?" I said fiercely

"Nothing, we've just been ordered to retire you so nothing personal" the leader said and brought his gun around and pointed it at my forehead. We then heard a loud crash in the distance and all of the erasers were momentarily distracted, meanwhile, Kayla and I were in the air flying towards freedom and life. We had not made it more than 100 feet when I heard the sound that made my heart stop, the explosive sound of a gun being fired. I had not been hit so I looked over at Kayla who was smiling then coughed and a suspiciously red liquid fell from her mouth and was staining her shirt from a hole in her chest. She flapped one last time then her lifeless body fell out of the sky and landed on the pavement of a parking lot 1000 feet below us.

"NOOOOOOOO!" I screamed

(A/N: I was thinking of ending this chapter here but I decided it was too short so I kept it going so enjoy the rest)

I sat up quickly on the couch where I had been sleeping and immediately my head exploded in pain. A familiar figure was stumbling away from me clutching her head.

"Owww, that hurt why did you sit up that suddenly" Kayla yelled at/asked me

"Sorry, bad dream" I mumbled

"Well, it's Christmas so wake up" she commanded

"Fine, I'm up" I said standing up from my comfortable position on the couch.

"Good, so you can open the gifts that I brought for you all" she said with a smile covering her face

We all opened the presents under the tree, from Kayla I got a new iPod Touch with a pair of wings engraved on the back, from Angel I got about 5 new Wii games, from my mom I got a new pair of pajamas (finally) and from my dad I got a brand new red and black Laptop with a pair of gold colored wings on the cover. We then all got to eat our breakfast, of popovers with jam and peanut butter, and butter.

"okay everyone I promised Ella's dad that we would go over there early for the party to help set up so it would be time to leave in about 30 Minutes. So everybody get ready so we can leave." My mom instructed all of us.

After the half hour was up we all piled into the van and my dad drove us quickly over to Ella's. Ella lived with her dad, Jeb Betchelder, in this huge mansion right on the outskirts of town. The house was not even really a house it was more like a palace, what can I say, I love it, her dad is like some sort of scientist, and I guess that it makes good money because he is freakin' loaded! We all walked into the giant hall that served as a mudroom, took off all of our outdoor clothes and stepped into the house. We were all immediately bombarded with people saying hello and welcome, all of Ella's family members, and we were the only people there who were not actually related to Ella.

"Hi everyone!" we heard someone yell and Ella came running out of the kitchen and hugged all of us.

"Hi" we all said

"It's so great that you all could make it!" Ella said enthusiastically

"Well we love coming" my mom said

"C'mon! you guys have to meet someone! I think you will really like them!" Ella said

After she said that she grabbed my wrist and Kayla's and dragged us out side to introduce us to this mystery person. We were dragged out past all of the people at the party and out to the giant backyard. She dragged us over to the snack table were we saw a tall 16 year old girl with dirty brown hair and wearing a black hoodie and torn jeans. She turned to look at us and her chocolate brown eyes lit up with her smile of recognition she gave us.

"Hi" she said as we approached

"Hey Max!" Ella said "these are my friends who I want you to meet, this is Kayla and-"

"Ella! I already know them!" Max said laughing

"Huh? From where?" Ella asked, confused

"They came and had dinner at the restaurant I was working at, then we exchanged numbers, I was actually just about to call them to see what they were up to." Max explained

"Well okay then, umm…guys you probably already know this but this is my big sister, Max" Ella explained

"Well it's nice to see you again!" I said to max shaking her hand.

"Yeah, same" she replied

"Well, now that introductions are out of the way, I have some more news" Ella said excitedly

"What?" Kayla and I asked

"Well, it was just decided yesterday, but my dad is moving to California, he got a job there at some lab in Death Valley" she announced

"Really? So you're leaving?" we asked

"No, only my dad is moving, I'm staying here with my mom and Max who are moving up here from Boston" she explained

"Oh that's good I would not want to lose one of my friends" Kayla said

"Yeah, and maybe you guys can make a new one!" Ella said excitedly

"Yup, sounds cool" I said kinda out of it

"What's wrong?" Kayla asked me, touching my arm

"nothing I'll be okay in a little while" I said, trying to shake off the feeling of impending doom. But at that moment a familiar black head popped up from behind the rose bushes and headed our way.

"hey" he said

"What's up Matt?" I asked him

"Oh, not much just visiting my aunt and uncle who live in Keene" he answered "you?"

"Again not much, mostly just hanging out with Kayla here" I said indicating her

"Well, don't you look nice today" he said to Kayla who blushed a deep shade of red

"Thanks" she mumbled

"So how have you guys been?" He asked us.

"Ummmm…fine, I guess" I said again feeling out of it all.

"What's wrong now?" Kayla asked, again touching my arm

"It's fine, I just have this sense of impending doom" I explained quietly

"Well what do you want to do about it?" worry lacing her words

"Ehh…I'll just stick it out there's not really anything that I can do, is there?" I responded

"Okay, if you're sure" she said

Ella took Matt inside to introduce him to some one that he thought that he would like. All of this time my strange feeling of impending doom had increased to the point that I was now actually seeing erasers all around us.

"So, Max are you going to be starting school after Christmas break?" I asked

"Yeah, I'm going to Keene high" she answered with some enthusiasm

"Oh cool, that's where Kayla and I go; maybe you'll even be in our homeroom."

"I'm looking forward to it" she said

"So what do you like to do, Max?" Kayla asked

"Oh, I like sports, anything I can do to be active" she answered smiling.

"Really? Us too" Kayla answered for both of us. Which is good because my feeling of doom now pretty much prevented me from talking.

"That's very cool! I think that we're going to get along well" Max said, still smiling, her good mood was very contagious; soon we were all laughing or smiling. We continued laughing and smiling until Kayla and I saw an image that made our blood run cold; erasers, about 50 of the wolf-human monstrosities were now heading right towards us.

"Max, we need you to get inside, NOW!" I said as I got down into my fighting stance right beside Kayla who was also preparing for this to get ugly. Max turned and saw the 50 male models advancing on us. A glint of something crossed her face and she started preparing to fight.

"Max, NO! you need to get inside NOW! We will handle this! You can't fight them!" I yelled

"I'm a good fighter!" she responded "I am going to fight with you!"

"NO! You can't fight them! We will take care of it! They're only after us! So get inside to safety! They are only after us!" I yelled

"I'm not going to let any of my friends get hurt!" she yelled back and before I could argue any more the erasers were on top of us, I saw Kayla off to my left taking on 8 erasers while I took on 10 and i saw Max off to my left fighting 9 erasers single-handedly. The really strange thing was the fact that she was actually winning. We took down eraser after eraser _dog, dog, go away come again some other day_I thought as I continued pummeling erasers. After a while of fighting the dust finally cleared and I saw the many unconscious forms of erasers lying all around us. Max walked over to us and looked at all of the bodies lying around us.

"Wow, I never thought that they would find me here" she said so quietly that if I didn't have raptor hearing I would not have heard her.

"They didn't" I said to her

"What?" she asked

"They didn't find you" I reassured her

"What do you mean?" she asked confused

"They weren't here after you, I'm not sure why they would be after you though, all I know is that they were here to get Kayla and I, not you" I said

"Why would they be after you?" Max asked us

"Long story" I said simply "and if I told you, you would just think I was crazy"

"Well, I think I might believe you, considering my story is probably about ten times crazier" she said laughing slightly

"Okay, fine, I'll tell you" I said and Kayla grabbed my arm

"What are you doing?" she hissed

"She has a right to know, she just fought off about 50 erasers with us" I whispered back

"Okay, so are you going to tell me or not?" she asked impatiently

"okay here goes…basically Kayla and I were 'built' in a laboratory in Canada, the scientists there would do crazy and sick experiments on us all day and before we were born they even made 2% of our DNA Avian so as a result we have wings and can fly. But then we escaped, and ever since then they have sent those things, you just saw after us, they're called 'erasers' by the way, in an effort to bring us back so they can do more tests on us." I explained quickly.

"Wow" max said "that makes my story sound not so amazing"

"Why?" I asked

"Because the same thing, pretty much, happened to me except it was at a lab in California, called 'The School'" she said

"So, you have wings too?" Kayla asked from next to me

"Yup" she said and unfurled her 14-foot-long tan speckled wings. We also unfurled our wings and showed them to her. Kayla's were the same length as Max's but were black on the top and snow white on the bottom.

"Cool! That is so, so, so, awesome! Now we have one more thing in common! We should definitely hang out!" Kayla squealed

"Yeah, sure" Max said and we all put our wings away before anyone saw them.

"Cool" I said and right then my mom called me and Kayla, saying that it was time to go home

"Oh well, see you later Max!" Kayla called

"Yeah, bye!" she called back

.

_Later that night_

I lay in bed thinking about all that had happened to me today max having wings, my feeling of doom before the erasers so rudely crashed the party and the prospect of finding even more people with wings. I finally rolled over and after about half an hour I was asleep.

Okay guys! This was chapter 4 and it was extra-long (2,814 words to be exact) review please! It would make the next chapter come more quickly!


	5. Chapter 5

Hey guys, thank you all for reading the story, here is chapter 5, and just so you know, the story is going to be skipping ahead to when school gets back in so I hope you like it and please remember to R&R!

School, the result of hundreds of adults hundreds of years ago deciding that we need to know things, haven't they ever heard that ignorance is bliss? Anyway back to the problem at hand; we feathered people can't exactly coming flying into school, as much as we would like to. In other words I actually had to get up at the crack of dawn in order to catch the school bus, just like everybody else. It was now 5:58 AM which means that I get to stay in bed for exactly 2 more minutes. I felt my eyes drooping trying to make me oversleep which I was determined not to do.

_Big brother, it's time to wake up!_Angel said in my mind yeah that's her special power; Angel can read minds and control them.

_I'm coming; I'm coming just let me sleep for two more minutes_I replied in my head

_Fine, but if you're not up in 5 minutes I am going to come and make you get up myself_she said

After that little conversation I looked at the clock again and saw that it was now 6:00 exactly I jumped out of bed and immediately got dressed. I walked sleepily into the kitchen and saw Angel sitting on the counter swinging her legs and as I entered she looked up at me.

"Hey, good morning Ange" I said ruffling her hair.

"Hi" she said, smiling up at me "so what's for breakfast?"

"I'm not sure, all I know is that I found someone you will probably want to meet" I answered, looking around the kitchen for anything that could be used to make a good breakfast for two bird-kids.

"Really? Who is it?" she asked, excited

"If I tell you it won't be a surprise now will it?" I said teasingly

"Well when can I meet her?" Angel asked

"Tell you what, I'll bring her home from school today so you can meet her" I smiled

"Good" she said "now make the breakfast!"

"Okay, but only because I need to eat too" I said

I spent the next fifteen minutes bumbling around in the kitchen and finally I came up with cereal and milk with some sausages. I placed one of the bowls in front of Angel and the other one in front of myself; we managed to inhale our breakfast in about 5 minutes. After breakfast was finished I ran out the door to get to the bus stop before the bus arrived. When the bus had finally turned the corner and pulled to a stop in front of me my toes were pretty much frozen, I climbed carefully onto the bus and spot Kayla sitting alone by the window I walk down the aisle and place myself in the seat next to her.

"Hey" she greets me

"Hi, what's new?" I ask

"Finally not grounded, you?"

"Nothing really, I have just been thinking" I replied

"About what?" she asked

"Not much, just us and Max" I answered

"What about us?"

"Just thinking that if there are four bird-kids, including angel, that maybe there are more of us somewhere" I said

"Yeah, there might be" she mused

"Anyway I will talk about it later with Max and you" I said just as the bus pulled up to the front of the school and we all piled out and into the building. I walked with Kayla into the front lobby of the school where we met up with Ella and Max waiting for us in a hallway off of the lobby.

"Hey you guys, what's new?" Kayla asked

"Not much" Max said "just talking to Ella"

"Well how would you like to come and hang out with Kayla and I after school today?" I asked.

"Sure" Max replied

"Cool, we have something we need to talk about and someone that you have to meet"

"Well, why can't you tell me now?" Max asked, sounding impatient

"Because, it involves our _uniqueness_" I said

"Ah! Okay then we'll talk about it later then"

After she had just finished saying that the bell rang, signaling the start of classes. We all headed in our different directions and promised to meet up at lunch and after school at bus number 106. I walked briskly to room 327 which was home to my first class, street law, and immediately took my seat in the back of the class. Let the torture begin!

_Lunch_

At lunch I went up to the counter and got the pile of glop that they try to pass for food at my school and immediately found a table with Kayla, Ella and Max.

"So how's school going for you?" I asked Max

"Fine, boring, but fine" she replied.

"Not planning to kill any of our classmates are we?" I asked teasingly

"Not yet" she said

"Are you coming to the bowling tournament this Saturday?" I asked Max "Kayla and I are both on the varsity team"

"Yeah sure I'll go" she replied

"Cool" I said

Just at that second the bell signaling the end of lunch rang and we all went to our separate classes.

_After School_

I walked out to the bus that I was going to meet the other winged people at and quickly climbed on board and saw Max and Kayla sitting in a seat in the back of the bus where nobody could hear us talking to one another. I climbed into the seat in front of them and placed my backpack on the seat beside me. It was about ten minutes before the bus finally stopped in front of high street market and Max, Kayla and I climbed out and walked to my house, so we could all talk in private. I led Max and Kayla up to my room and sat down in the chair across form the bed as the two girls sat down on the bed, looking at me expectantly.

"Okay guys, I have been doing some thinking" I said

"About what?" Max asked

"Just us Avian-Americans" I said

"What about us" Max asked again

"Well, what I was thinking is that maybe there are more people like us out there somewhere. And that maybe we should try and find them." I answered

"I don't know…I mean we don't where any might be and we're kind of safe here" Max said uncertainly

"Safe? You call where we are safe? We were just attacked by about 50 erasers in broad daylight!" I replied, slightly annoyed

"Okay good point" Max admitted "but what makes you think that there are more people like us out there?"

"I'm not sure it's just a feeling I guess…it's like whenever I try to sleep or whenever I'm not thinking of anything the only thing that enters my mind is pictures of kids our age with wings just like us and I can't help but feel like they're real" I said

"Well THAT'S not weird at all" Kayla said sarcastically, I glared at her

"Well if there are others like us out there then we should definitely go and try to find them" Max said "but we don't know for sure that they are real, and I don't think we should leave the safety we have here" just as she said that Angel came running into my room and jumped on my already overcrowded bed. She stopped bouncing when she noticed Max sitting there and looked at her for a while before turning her head to look at me.

"Who is this?" she asked me

"Angel, this is Max, she has wings just like you, me and Kayla" I answered

"Really?" Angel asked a sparkle in her eyes

"Yeah" Max said "and who are you?"

"I'm Angel" Angel said "and I am his younger sister"

"Well it's nice to meet you angel, so you have wings too?" Max asked

"Yup" Angel said and extended her 6 foot long snow white wings

"Oh, your wings are so pretty Angel!" Max said

"Thank you!"

"Okay, I thought we we're safe here, how could the erasers have found us?" Kayla asked the question everyone had in their heads.

"I don't know" I said

"Maybe we have a chip or something in our arms like they have for animals they don't want to lose" Max said

"Yeah, I thought about that but then why would they wait until now to attack us?" I answered

"I don't know, you don't suppose that they have a spy close to us do you?" Max asked.

"I have to admit I have not ruled that possibility out yet" I answered "but if they do have an informant then that would mean that we would have to leave."

"Well I hope they do not have any spies then" Max said

"I think we all do" I answered

"Okay I think this is enough worrying for right now let's just go to my house so we can get something good to eat and continue our conversation later." Kayla said

"Sounds good" I agreed and with that we left my house and spread our wings and flew the short distance to Kayla's. We were exactly half way there when my heart stopped and Angel let out a terrified scream.

Sorry if this chapter stinks, I had a major case of writer's block when writing it. I hopefully will have the next chapter up later today if possible, but if not then I will post it on Sunday, I sadly will be away tomorrow so no new chapter. Thank you for reading!


	6. Chapter 6

Thank you to everybody who is reading this. So enough of my "tongue wagging" here is chapter 6!

DISCAIMER: James Patterson owns Maximum Ride…For now…

I opened my eyes slowly and saw a sight that I hoped never to see again in my life. I was in a perfectly clean white room with the smell of antiseptics surrounding me. There were all sorts of different colored tubes coming out of my arm and my ribs were definitely broken. I turned my head to the side and saw that there was an empty bed right by the window which was open slightly, letting in the cold January air. I looked the other way and saw the door to the room I was in. I lay back down and finally drifted back to sleep.

_A young man that appeared about my age was lying on the leaf covered floor of the forest, he looked to be seriously injured, he had long black hair and midnight black eyes and olive skin. His pitch wings were spread out behind him, the feathers turning red with the blood from his wounds. I stood watching him, trying to help him but my body refused to move. A girl about my age appeared out of the bushes ran to the boy's side and whispered in his ear then started to treat his wounds. I was suddenly flying and appeared a few meters away on the other side of them, I could still hear them behind me but I was now facing away from them. I saw about 50 erasers approaching their clearing, I tried to yell, but my voice had stopped working. I watched as the erasers entered the clearing, the girl turned and saw them, she tried to get up and drag the boy away, but already I knew that it was too late for them. The head eraser raised his gun and immediately aimed it at the girl. "Leave the boy, he is all that we want" he growled, "never" the girl growled back fiercely, "fine" the eraser said and fired. The bullet quickly entered her head and I could tell that she was dead before she hit the ground._

An image then came into my mind of what was happening outside of my body, it was like I could see through my eyelids while my eyes were closed. I was back in my room and there were several people standing around my body. Max, Kayla and Angel were there with tears in their eyes, there were also at least two doctors there handling the machinery that was keeping me alive. I could tell that they were about to make a major decision that would probably change my life forever. The doctors started to talk to Kayla and Max.

"Now are you sure you want to do this?" doctor 1 asked

"No, but I just feel that it's time, we don't want him to suffer anymore" Kayla answered fighting back tears

What? Were they talking about their pet dog? I wondered, but then I remembered, neither of them has a pet dog. Then I realized the terrifying truth, they were talking about me.

I tried to sit up and tell them that I was fine but my body was unresponsive. I tried to at least open my eyes but even that didn't work, but I vowed to never stop fighting until I was awake. Kayla then came over and grabbed my hand and I looked at her, she still had tears in her eyes but none had actually escaped yet. She sat there for a while before speaking.

"Come on, wake up, if you don't wake up soon they're going to pull the plug" she said to me I tried with all my might to just squeeze her hand but it didn't work. She then looked up at the doctor and motioned too him to get his attention. "Can we just give him one more hour to see if he wakes up?"

He patted her arm with a sympathetic smile on his face "sure." And with that he left, taking his assistant with him.

"Please, please, wake up" I heard Kayla beg me, tears still threatening to escape her eyelids.

I again tried with all of my energy on just waking up I tried and tried but was still unable to do anything. Max then came and sat down beside me as well, and I could see that she too had tears in her eyes.

"Come on, just stay with us, we need you, the mutants of the world need you" she said

I kept struggling, nothing.

I heard the door open and close quietly and Ella came rushing into the room and sat down next to Max, tears in her eyes as well. "Hi, I came as soon as I heard" she then turned to me "please wake up, we need you, I need you" she said crying.

I continued in my endless struggle to escape from the prison that my body had become. But still, I failed at waking up. By now I felt like I needed to cry out or yell or something in frustration, but, of course, I couldn't. I glanced at the clock and saw that exactly 47 minutes had passed which meant that I had only 13 minutes to recover from my state. I fought still harder and still got no response from my unconscious body. Come on! I need to get up now! I can't, but I need to find a way.

At that instant the door opened slowly and let in the person I did not want to see right now, my Doctor, the man that would, in a few short minutes, be cutting off all power to my life support machine, the man that would be killing me. He walked up to Max and Kayla. "so, are you guys ready? Have you said your goodbyes?"

"Yes, it's time, he has suffered enough" Kayla said resigned

"Okay, if you're sure"

"Yes, it's what needs to be done"

"Okay" and with that the doctor walked over to the switch that controlled the power to the life support. His hand rested momentarily on the lever, and then he pulled it down in one swift motion.

Anyway hope you liked this chapter! Please review and tell me what you think of it! I will be updating tomorrow if I can!


	7. Chapter 7

Thank you everybody who is reading this, especially those who have fallowed this story; it makes my day! Anyway, I hope you people are enjoying the story so far, so here is chapter 7 Chapter 6 (review)

_The doctor walked over to the switch that controlled the power to the life support. His hand rested momentarily on the lever, and then he pulled it down in one swift motion._

Chapter 7

I watched the doctor shut off the life support and then my whole world vanished. I was in a black void of nothingness. I looked ahead and saw a white speck of light. I started walking toward it, but when I was only halfway there an invisible force held me back. I looked around and saw no one, so I tried to continue going forward; but still the invisible wall was there, preventing me from moving. I yelled to the sky in frustration.

"Why won't this stupid thing let me through?" I yelled.

"It's not your time yet" a silky voice said from behind me.

"What do you mean it's not my time?" I asked still facing the barrier.

"I mean, that you still should be down there, living." The voice said "and look, it would be much easier to talk to you if you were at least facing me." The voice sounded like it was chuckling.

I turned around, slightly embarrassed "but they cut off my life support, didn't they?"

The owner of the voice was the same boy who was injured in my dream earlier, his long black hair falling around his face and his bangs slightly covering his eyes. He was sitting in midair behind me with the remnants of a smirk on his face. "Yes, but you will survive…if you really want to."

I looked at him, slightly confused, "how?"

"I told you, you have to really want it" he repeated.

"But I do want it, with my entire being!" I practically shouted.

He stroked his chin for second as if in thought, "well, maybe there is some reason you are being kept here then."

"What reason?" I asked.

"How should I know?" he said.

"Aren't you in charge here?" I asked.

He smirked "Me? Nah, I just work here."

"Well, who do you work for?"

"I'm not sure" he smirked again.

"What do you mean you're not sure?" I asked/yelled.

"I mean that I can't tell you" he said, still smirking.

"Why not?"

He smirked, can't he do anything else? "Because then it would be too easy, you have to figure it out for yourself."

"Why can't you just tell me?" I asked, frustrated.

"Because I don't know" he finally admitted.

"Hey, I just realized, I never found out your name." I said

"So?" he shrugged.

"So, what is it?" I asked.

"I can't tell you that."

"Again, why?" I asked, annoyed.

"Because…then I would have to kill you."

I smiled at this and started walking away to think, but the boy only followed me. I kept walking, ignoring the boy stalking me. I saw a clearing up ahead in a forest and I recognized it immediately as the one that was in my dream from earlier today, only now there was man sitting on a stump in the middle. He looked up and met my eyes as I approached, his eyes were a greyish brown in color and his white hair was combed neatly in place. I felt a need to talk to this man as if he knew the answers to all of my questions.

"Welcome" he said, gesturing for me to sit down on the other stump in front of him. I sat obediently, watching him expectantly, waiting for him to speak. "You are the newest arrival here, Lucas Anderson, correct?"

"Call me Luke, everybody does" I answered with a smile.

"Okay, Luke, I was wondering if you have any questions for me."

"Yeah, I do have a few" I said.

"Well, I will try and answer them" he said, chuckling softly.

"Okay, that boy over there" I said, indicating the black-haired boy standing behind the man, "said that I was being kept here for a reason, I was just wondering what that reason is."

"Well, he is right, I am keeping you here for a reason, and that reason is just this; you need to learn, that is the whole reason I brought you here in the first place" the man replied.

"Okay then, what do I need to learn?"

"You need to learn about your destiny and the destinies of those around you." He stated.

"Which is...?" I prompted.

"Luke, I know you are probably going to find this hard to believe, but your destiny is to save the world" he informed me.

"What?" I asked, dumbfounded "why me? And more importantly, from what?"

"Yes, Luke, you need to save the world from a great evil that is approaching."

"What evil?" I asked, still confused.

"There are a group of scientists, who are working to remove global warming as a threat to the world."

"And that's bad because…?" I said.

"It's bad because of the method they're using, they feel that the only way to get rid of global warming is to remove all people on earth" he informed me.

"And how would I go about doing this?"

"What you need to do first is unite all of the mutants in the world, then you have to use them to fight against the army of erasers the scientists have created, and you have to destroy the facility which they use as a base."

"Okay, then, how many other mutants are there?" I asked.

He scratched his head with his left hand, a thoughtful expression on his face. Finally he said, "I'm not sure, all I know is that there are 5 that I need you to find before you can even think of saving the world. Four guys and one girl, but that's all I can tell you for right now, so do you understand what you have to do?"

"Unite all mutants, put an end to the crazy scientists' plan to destroy world, yep I got it."

"Okay, good, I think it is time you returned to your friends" the man said.

I grinned in happiness, "cool, I was beginning to miss them." I got up and started heading towards the black-haired boy, who was motioning for me to come with him.

"Oh, and Luke?" the man called from behind me.

"Yes?"

"Here's a tip, you'll find the first mutant in Belleville, Ontario" he said smiling warmly at me, "I know you can do it and, just be careful, especially concerning one of the scientists whose name is Dr. Hans Gunther-Hagen, he is in charge of dealing with the mutants, he is in charge of the erasers and is basically the leader of the whole operation, he is also the one who killed your father, so for goodness' sake be careful!"

"I will, I will save the world" I said and walked with the dark haired boy to the spot where I had arrived.

(A/N: I was going to end it here, but I promised you guys answers, and here they are, so enjoy them!)

I stood in the darkness at the place I arrived and waited with only the black-haired kid for what felt like 15 minutes to a half-hour then I started sinking through the floor and then everything vanished. I opened my eyes but my body was covered by a thin white fabric of some sort so it made things slightly blurry, but I was still able to see; and what I saw on the door of the room I was being wheeled into scared me. It was one word that I had hoped never to see in my life: _Mortuary_. Of course! They thought I was dead! I decided to wait until they weren't expecting it then I would 'wake up' and scare the living daylights out of them. This was going to be fun. I waited and waited. Then when they had all gathered around me, probably to check my wings out for themselves or something, I immediately sat up and looked around as most of them gasped and some even screamed and stepped back a few feet.

"w-who, who are you?" one of the doctors asked

I started to get off the cart "my name is Lucas Anderson and I'm going to be checking out now."

The doctor continued on, ignoring my statement "how are you here, alive?"

"Well, you see, when a girl and a guy love each other very much―"

"No, I mean why aren't you still dead? How did you come back?" the doctor interrupted me.

"You wish I hadn't?" I asked.

He started to look uncomfortable "No, what I mean is; you were dead for about 2 hours and then you just came back, how?"

"No idea, can I go now?" I asked impatiently.

He sighed, defeated, "fine, just check out on your way out."

I walked out of the mortuary and checked out on the way, getting a very shocked reaction from the receptionist, considering that she thought that I was dead. I walked outside, spread my wings and took to the sky and flew in the direction of Kayla's house. I landed in the tree outside of Kayla's bedroom window and looked in. What I saw almost made my heart break; Kayla and Max were sitting on Kayla's bed, hugging Angel and they were pretty much all crying. Well Max only had tears in her eyes that refused to fall, but still, she was about to cry. I stayed outside the window for a while when they suddenly got up and walked out and headed downstairs, going to dinner, probably. I took my chance and opened the window and slipped inside. I lay down on the bed. I waited there for about an hour when I heard a shout from downstairs.

"Hold on a sec! I just need to get my phone and money, then we can go" Kayla yelled to Max. I heard the sound of feet running up the stairs, I heard the door open, then a loud scream as Kayla saw what was on the bed…me. I quickly got up off of the bed and was immediately tackled in a fierce hug. "How are you here? We all thought you were dead" she whispered into my ear.

"I was dead…but then I came back."

"How?" she asked, tears still in her eyes.

"I don't really know" I stroked her hair "but I need to talk to you, Max and Angel, like now"

"Okay, sounds good, I'll go get them" she said and hurried downstairs. After about 5 minutes I heard her coming up the stairs with Max and Angel. The too screamed when they saw and soon I was in the center of a big group hug. When we pulled away Max had tears in her eyes again, this time, though, they were tears of joy.

"Okay, I need to talk to you guys…" I started and told them about everything that had happened while I was talking to the man and the black haired boy.

"So let's see if I have this right… we have to find all of the mutants in the world, survive, and stop the crazy scientists all by ourselves?" Max asked.

"Yep"

"With absolutely no help from anyone?" Max said.

"Yep"

"Well, THAT stinks!"

"Indeed, so what happened to land me in the hospital anyway? I can't really remember" I asked.

"Well basically, you were shot. About 75 erasers ambushed us on the way here and in the fighting the leader managed to hit you in the chest. After that Max and I managed to carry you to the hospital" Kayla filled me in.

I was shocked "Wow, sounds painful, and thank you, thank you for saving my life."

They blushed and Max said "it was nothing; we could not just leave you there to die."

I smiled "anyway, I know where we need to go next."

"Where?" Kayla, Angel and Max asked at the same time.

"Belleville, Ontario" I said.

Max immediately stood up "let's get going then."

I started to follow her down the stairs and into the kitchen "yes, we just need to get supplies first and we can leave tomorrow."

"Fine" she said. "It would probably be best to be well rested anyway for the flight"

That night I reviewed everything that had happened that day. I thought about what it felt like to die, and I thought about how I was going to save the world.

Okay there is chapter 7; I hope you liked the ending! I will update again tomorrow!


	8. Chapter 8

Here I have a second chapter up for today to make up for the last few days where I haven't been updating! So I hope you enjoy, and remember to please review! I'm running out of pre-written material and I want to know whether I should keep writing this story! Thanks!

DISCLAIMER:I own only this story, nothing else!

Luke POV

I opened my eyes and looked at the ceiling, today was the day, the day that I would leave on my journey to save the world. On the ceiling was a strange sign; it was a red maple leaf, the sugar maple leaf that was found on the Canadian flag. This single leaf design reminded me where I needed to go; Belleville, Ontario. I leapt out of bed, stretched my wings and quietly climbed the stairs to get angel so she could start getting ready for the trip. I opened the door to her room and saw that she was already awake sitting up in her nest-like bed, all of her stuffed animals and pillows around her.

"Hey, I thought I was supposed to wake you up" I chuckled

"Well we need to say good bye to mom and dad and Valentine" she said a small tear in her eye

I walked over to her and placed my arm around her small shoulders and gave her a squeeze, "what's wrong?"

"Nothing, it's just that I'll be leaving my home to come with you, Max and Kayla."

"Don't worry, everything will be fine, but if you don't want to come with us you don't have to" I smiled at her in a protective older brotherly way.

"I'm not sure I just feel like I'm not really ready to leave home, I mean, I'm only six!" she said and started crying into my shoulder and I gently patted her back.

"it's okay, you can stay here if you really want to, which it sounds like you do so I'm going to be going to Kayla's house to meet up with the others then we are going to be coming back here, so if you change your mind I will be back"

"Okay" she said softly, hugging me.

I backed quietly out of her room and tip-toed out the front door and launched myself into the air heading to the park I had seen when I first flew in Keene. Kayla had been with me at the time so I was hoping that she would be there now. I landed in the tree that overlooked the main path through the park, hoping that a certain winged creature would come along that path. I lay down on the bottom branch and rested my head against the trunk and waited looking at my watch every few minutes making sure I was not late for my meeting with Max and Kayla. I was just about to get up to leave when I heard it, a rustling in the bushes. I quietly turned around to watch the newcomer and see who it was. When I saw the person, my eyes widened in shock, the man had a white coat on, and was accompanied by an eraser. The man was deep in conversation but a few words managed to make their way to my ears.

"Project…doing well…XD0001…Gunther…Hans…" was all I heard before the white coat and eraser disappeared from my sight. I spun around on my branch and shot into the air quickly unfurling my wings and heading in the direction of Kayla's house. I thought about all of the meanings it could have:

The white coats have found us and we need to leave

The white coats are just searching the area and we still should leave

After thinking about my options I decided that it is probably a good thing that we are leaving now, so we can live and prosper away from the white coats. I landed in the snow in front of Kayla's house and walked quickly up to the front door. I raised my hand to knock on the front door but before I could actually make contact with the dark brown wood with 'Snipe' engraved on it in big letters of the door it was opened from the inside. I looked at the tall dark-haired woman who had opened it.

"Hey, Sarah, is Kayla here?"

Sarah smiled warmly at me "she's in her room waiting for you with Max"

I climbed the stairs and walked silently into the room across from the top of the stairs. Max and Kayla were sitting around the backpack which was lying open on the floor and they were packing stuff into it. Both of their heads turned towards me when they heard the door open.

Kayla stood up and glared at me jokingly "Hey, it's about time you showed up, just because you were dead yesterday doesn't mean you can sleep in." she laughed, slapping my arm.

"Sorry, I was just in the park to think about our plan and I saw a white coat and an eraser" I apologized.

Both of their faces showed their shock when I told them this and I went on to explain all that I had heard and all of the meanings that I thought it could have.

"Wow, that's pretty worrisome" Max said, concerned.

I shrugged "yup"

At this point Kayla stood up and said "we better go to your house and collect angel and get your stuff together so we can leave as soon as possible in order to escape the erasers"

"Yup, let's do that" I responded starting to head back downstairs toward the door with the other two following close behind me. We all walked out onto Kayla's front lawn and flew the short distance to my house. We walked quietly into the house, expecting everyone to be still asleep. First we went into my room and packed all of the things that I would need to survive with them for a month or more on our travels, and put it all in an easy to carry back-pack. We then walked across the hall and grabbed the atlas of North America so we would at least have some idea as to where we were going. We were in the office when I saw the picture, it was trapped in between two books one on genetic experiments and another on bird anatomy. The picture was of a young kid that I had never seen before; the kid had blue eyes and darkish brown hair. And get this, the kid had wings! I stood there for about 15 minutes just staring at the picture in disbelief before Kayla and Max dragged me with them to go find Angel. We continued and walked up the stairs and when we got to the top we made a quick right and stood in front of Angel's door we waited for a minute, then opened the door slowly and looked at her bed.

**I should be updating again tomorrow so come back then, it should be up in the early afternoon. So I hope you are enjoying the story so far thanks for reading!**


	9. Chapter 9

Hey guys sorry for the last chapter know it was not my best but thank you for keeping reading my story it means a lot to me! So here is chapter 9 I hope you enjoy!

_Kayla and Max dragged me with them to go find Angel. We continued and walked up the stairs and when we got to the top we made a quick right and stood in front of Angel's door we waited for a minute, then opened the door slowly and looked at her bed._

Luke POV.

After one look at her bed I could tell that something was terribly wrong; Angel was not in her room. We rushed out to look in the rest of the house for her but we were unable to find her anywhere. So Max, Kayla and I left to go look outside the house because she might have gone to the park or something like that, with her you never know quite what to expect. We headed down the street towards the park and we were about halfway there when a red-headed girl about our age walked up to us.

She smiled at me "Hi, my name is Brigid and I couldn't help but noticing that you look like you are looking for something is it anything I can help you find?"

I smiled back at her "Nope, we're just fine, thank you though" I said as we tried to walk past her, but she continued to stand in our way.

"Are you sure? Because I can be very good at finding things" she winked at me.

"No, really I'm fine, now if you'll excuse us we really need to get going" and with we pushed by her and continued on our way to the park. When we got there we looked around, not seeing anyone which was pretty weird considering that this park is usually overcrowded with dogs and their owners. We were heading into the woods at the edge of the park when Angel came running out of them and ran straight into me screaming and laughing at the same time.

"What are you doing goofball?" I asked, chuckling slightly.

She grinned up at me, revealing her missing front teeth "nothing"

"Really? Well I guess we'll just go then" I said, pretending to cry.

"Okay, okay! I was playing tag with one of my friends" and just as she said this a dark skinned young boy dashed out of the woods after her. The boy looked to be about 6 or 7 and had black hair that looked similar to a sheep's.

I looked back at Angel, "so who's your friend?"

"His name is Eddie and he lives just down the street with his older brother and parents."

Eddie came over to us and tagged Angel on the arm "tag! You're it!" he yelled giggling

"No fair! I was talking to Luke and his friends!" she pouted just then a much larger dark skinned young man walked out of the woods chasing Eddie slowly.

"Hey, there you are Eddie I have been looking for you everywhere!" the man called over jogging over to us.

As the young man approached I recognized him and noticed that so did Kayla because her cheeks had turned a light shade of pink.

"Hey" Matt said looking at Kayla "I was hoping I would bump into you again soon"

Kayla's cheeks darkened to a deep red color "really?"

"Yup, I was just wondering if you wanted to go out with me sometime." He asked, scratching the back of his head and looking slightly nervous.

"Sure, I would love to…" she started

"Great! So how about Saturday, I can pick you up at seven if you want" He said a huge grin on his face. I coughed meaningfully.

"…unfortunately though, I can't, I am going on a trip to Canada with my friends and I don't know for sure when I'll be back, I'm sorry" Kayla finished.

Upon hearing this Matt's face fell "well maybe some other time then after you're back"

Kayla nodded "definitely"

Matt's face lit up again, "great! So I'll see you later?"

"Yup" Kayla replied a small smile on her lips.

Matt then grabbed Eddie and dragged him off in the direction of the block next door, and I quickly turned to Angel "so, have you changed you mind about coming with us to Canada?" although as I now knew, her staying here was not really a choice anymore.

"Yeah, I thought about it for a while then I realized that I would not be leaving my family if I went with you because you are my family, Luke" she said then hugged me tightly around the waist and I patted the top of her head.

"Good, we'll be glad to have you with us" I smiled down at her

Max then tapped me on the shoulder and I turned around to face her "so are we leaving soon?" Max asked "because the longer we stay here the closer the erasers get to killing us"

"Yeah, we'll leave as soon as Angel gets her stuff all ready." I said being yanked forcefully back to the reality of the journey we were about to embark on. We walked back to the house and walked upstairs to Angel's room. I got Angel's pink backpack out of the closet and helped her pack everything she would need into it.

After we were done packing Angel's bag we walked downstairs and into the kitchen were our parents were waiting for us with Max, Kayla, and Valentina.

"So you guys are leaving us here?" my mom said, tears beginning to form in her eyes.

"Yeah, I'm sorry but we have to, but we'll try to be back soon" I reassured her.

"Well at least promise me that you'll stay safe" she said hugging me.

I hugged her back "we will mom, don't worry"

"Oh, I'll still worry, I'll worry as long as you're gone" she said tears still in her eyes

I then said goodbye to the rest of my family, then with a quick turn, and a wave, I walked out the front door with Kayla, Angel and Max close behind me. We walked slowly out onto the front lawn, spread our wings gracefully and lifted ourselves gracefully up into the sky. We were finally on our way, on our way to Canada, on our way to save the world.

Okay sorry guys if you didn't like this chapter, but next chapter will probably be pretty long and I might introduce some more characters in it so be prepared. And because tomorrow is thanksgiving, I'm not 100% sure I'll be able to update then but I will as soon as I can! Thanks for reading, and don't forget to review!


End file.
